'Net Features : brand advocacyhttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/tags/brand+advocacy/default.aspxTags: brand advocacyenCommunityServer 2008 SP2 (Build: 31104.93)What Makes Up A Brand Advocate? (INFOGRAPHIC)http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/10/01/what-makes-up-a-brand-advocate-infographic.aspxWed, 01 Oct 2014 13:25:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:37343Allison Howen0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=37343http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2014/10/01/what-makes-up-a-brand-advocate-infographic.aspx#comments<hr />
<p><strong>Needle is shedding light on what makes up a brand advocate, with new data from the company&rsquo;s first national advocate study revealing that there are 37.5 million adults in the United States who are ideal candidates to become brand advocates.</strong></p>
<p>The study, which was commissioned by Needle and conducted by Y2 Analytics, defines advocacy by examining a person&rsquo;s relationship with products as it relates to five important drivers, including expertise, knowledge, purchasing influence, brand loyalty and active promotion. The data reveals that two-thirds of advocates say that sharing their passion and helping other customers is their primary motivation &ndash; even outranking compensation. Moreover, the data shows that the average advocate is younger than 45, employed full-time outside of being an advocate, is college educated and social media savvy.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have always believed that advocates are a powerful and effective way to build trusted relationships with consumers &ndash; and the fact there are 37.5 million potential advocates in the U.S. really drives home that they are a huge untapped resource for businesses,&rdquo; said Morgan Lynch, founder and CEO of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.needle.com/">Needle</a>. &ldquo;These are the people who are already talking about their favorite products and brands on their social networks and in real life, and pride themselves on being a knowledgeable and passionate. This is precisely the group that companies should be leveraging to provide their consumers with authentic, credible advice and great experiences.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Discover more insights into Needle&rsquo;s advocate study by checking out the infographic below:</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/Needle_brandadvocate.png"><img height="2500" width="630" src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/images/blog/Needle_brandadvocate.png" style="vertical-align:middle;margin:5px;" alt="" /></a></p>
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<h3><strong>In the mood for more infographics? Check them out at <a target="_blank" href="http://webmag.co/">WebMag.co</a>.</strong></h3>
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<hr /><div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=37343" width="1" height="1">brand advocacywm-ecommerceNeedlebrand advocateHow Do You Respond to Negative Buzz?http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2010/05/05/how-do-you-respond-to-negative-buzz.aspxWed, 05 May 2010 16:15:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:13982Mike Phillips0http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=13982http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2010/05/05/how-do-you-respond-to-negative-buzz.aspx#comments<hr />
<p>Social media can be a great way to recruit brand advocates. But with its increased usage with consumers comes the very real problem of negative buzz outweighing the positive. As such, businesses have been all but forced to participate -- if for no other reason than to make sure their brands are not being dragged through the mud by a few active, disgruntled consumers.<br /><br />Brands that can effectively manage negative buzz can turn detractors into advocates quickly and efficiently. After all, everyone likes a good comeback story. When a business turns a negative into a shining example of customer service and conflict resolution, the rewards are great.<br /><br />To that end, eMarketer has released a survey about businesses and how they respond to negative buzz online. Below is a sample from that survey. </p>
<p><b>We would like to know:</b> How does your company respond to negative online buzz? Do you reach out to consumers directly? After the problem has been resolved, do you make a public statement about it? Please leave a comment below and tell us about your experiences and strategies. Your peers want to know!</p>
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://websitemagazine.com/images/blog/negativebuzz.jpg" width="332" height="456" alt="" /></p>
<div style="clear:both;"></div><img src="http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/aggbug.aspx?PostID=13982" width="1" height="1">social mediabrand advocacyExploring Loyalty Programs and Their Many Benefitshttp://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2009/11/13/exploring-loyalty-programs-and-their-many-benefits.aspxFri, 13 Nov 2009 21:30:00 GMT1e469e21-c924-44fa-a132-47b5d0a8ad47:11068Mike Phillips2http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=11068http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/archive/2009/11/13/exploring-loyalty-programs-and-their-many-benefits.aspx#comments<p>Loyalty programs can be a highly effective way to build brand loyalty and encourage new brand advocates. From periodic discounts or rewards for promoting the brand, membership certainly has its benefits. And no one benefits more than the brand. But there is much more that a brand can do with loyalty programs and much more to be gained - including increasing time-on-site, page views, ad impressions and click-throughs, and direct sales.<br /><br />Let&#39;s take a look at one such loyalty program, offered by Chicago radio station WXRT, at 93.1 FM and <a href="http://wxrt.com">www.wxrt.com</a>. Their program is called the VIP Lounge and features several outstanding uses of brand loyalty.<br /><br /><b>Focusing on the User</b></p>
<p>Below is an image of the home page after logging-in to the VIP Lounge. We first see the brand, clear and present, with the identifiable moniker of &quot;93 XRT&quot; and call-sign diamond in the logo. The page is immediately inviting as a place to relax and spend some time exploring - a nice touch with the couch and a personalized invitation with the welcoming video. Of course, the VIP&#39;s name is prominent, as is his or her status and balance of VIP points. Altogether, the user is made to feel very welcome and encouraged to explore the brand (more on that later).</p>
<p><img alt="WXRT VIP Lounge" src="http://websitemagazine.com/images/blog/xrtvip.jpg" /></p>
<p>VIP points are earned by interacting with the website and the radio station offline. The points can then be spent on promotional items - such as tickets to concerts or passes to events. For example, one entry for a free ticket to a local concert might &quot;cost&quot; 10 points. It&#39;s then up to the user to decide how many points to spend - the more points spent, the more entries and better chance of success to win the tickets. Instead of simply shipping a product when the user reaches a certain threshold, the user is given control of their loyalty. This gives them a reason to get excited and, more important, to come back and keep trying. Users can also spend their points on merchandise. <i>Options</i>.</p>
<p><img alt="BB King" src="http://websitemagazine.com/images/blog/xrtpromo.jpg" style="float:right;margin-left:10px;margin-right:10px;" height="293" width="420" />Let&#39;s now look at one way for users to earn points. To the right is an image of blues legend BB King, who will be making an appearance at Chicago&#39;s House of Blues, a WXRT-sponsored event. On that photo is a call-to-action - 250 VIP points using the keyword &quot;BB.&quot; By entering this code in the &quot;Spend VIP Points&quot; section at the VIP Lounge, the user earns 250 points that they can use to enter to win tickets to any number of WXRT concerts including BB King. <i>Synergy</i>.<br /><br /><b>Focusing on the Brand</b></p>
<p>Sure, we want our users to benefit from loyalty programs. More important, however, our brands and our bottom line needs to benefit. Going back to the VIP Lounge home page, we can see several important branding elements and opportunities.<br /><br />The most striking element of the page is designed first and foremost for brand interaction - the red buttons. There are links to earning and spending VIP points, listening to the radio station live (cross-channel promotion), &#39;giveaways,&#39; &#39;photos,&#39; and the ever-important &#39;refer friend.&#39; The referral is accomplished by an e-mail invite and rewarded by additional VIP points for each friend referred, and 10 percent of VIP points earned by those friends within the first seven days of their signup. In other words, the user becomes a loyalty program affiliate. Brilliant. There is also a prominent &#39;contact&#39; button. After all, what good is being a VIP if you don&#39;t get personalized VIP treatment?<br /><br />Also highly visible are a few direct revenue generators; in the casino ad, the &quot;Big Holiday Concert&quot; ad and another casino ad at the very top of the page (not pictured).<br /><br />One of the most imporant features of this page and the VIP Lounge in general is the benefit to the website&#39;s statistics, which become highly relevant to prospective advertisers. By the time you reach the VIP Lounge you&#39;ve already created a few page views. The multiple interactions available also encourage more page views and increased time-on-site, including photos and the video welcome message. Now, back to the BB King photo - this was the last of at least two dozen photos in the gallery. The gallery is promoted as offering 250 VIP points by looking for the keyword. So, the user must click through many other photos before reaching the last one, containing the keyword &quot;BB.&quot; That&#39;s a tremendous way to get people to spend more time on the page, while giving something in return and even entertaining them.<br /><br />Of course, a successful loyalty program requires promotion and maintenance. WXRT has more than 12,000 Facebook Fans and over 3,300 Twitter followers. The BB King promotion (along with all the others) are promoted heavily through both channels. <i>Viral Marketing</i>.<br /><br />It should be noted that WXRT is no stranger to brand loyalty. The purveyors of &quot;Chicago&#39;s Finest Rock&quot; have been building a community and a following of Chicago music fans since about 1972. They have enjoyed loyal fans well before the Web had any impact on business, or even existed. But these elements are a fine example of brand loyalty objectives, benefits, and strategies that any business can employ.</p>
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